The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of a Narcissus plant, botanically known as Narcissus tazetta L., ‘Paperwhite’ group, commonly known as daffodil and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Ariel’.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made in a controlled breeding program in Bet Dagan, Israel. The female parent is a Narcissus variety from a proprietary breeding line designated ‘1959/4’ (unpatented). The male parent is a Narcissus variety from a proprietary breeding line designated ‘66/18/7’ (unpatented).
‘Ariel’ was discovered and selected by the inventors Dorit Sandler-Ziv, Herut Yahel, Avner Cohen and Har'el Yon, as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Bet Dagan, Israel.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by either separation of bulblets, bulb chips (twin scaling), or bulb crossing (scoring) was first performed in 1995 in Bet Dagan, Israel and has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual propagation. The new cultivar reproduces true-to-type.